Rice University
2-5
Texas State
5-2
Rice Tames Bobcats on Road, 88-81
12/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2007
SAN MARCOS - After erasing a 14-point, first-half Texas State lead, Rice survived a rally by the Bobcats to post an 88-81 win Wednesday in Strahan Coliseum.
Rice, which improved to 2-5, led by as many as 20 points, 69-49 on a Rodney Foster basket with 13:07 to play. But Texas State would outscore the Owls 24-6 to pull to within two points, 75-73.
Rice made three of their next four free throws and Paulius Packevicius' jumper stretched the Owls' lead back to seven, 80-73 with 3:10 to play.
The Bobcats' rally from a 20-point deficit started with back-to-back three-pointers by Dylan Moseley and Brent Holder. Moseley would connect again from the perimeter, and Matt Fullenwider also knocked down a trey during the stretch. At the same time, Rice went scoreless for two minutes at one point and also had a three-minute drought during Texas State's rally.
The Owls would keep the game interesting, making eight of their final 16 free throws, and Brandon Bush's three-pointer cut the Rice lead to 85-81 with 36 seconds to play, but the Bobcats missed their final three shots from three-point range.
Patrick Britton led the Owls with a career-high 24 points. The San Antonio native was 6-for-9 from the field and made 12-of-14 free throws to go with seven rebounds. Rodney Foster also registered a new career high with 17 points against the Bobcats. Packevicius recorded his fourth double-double of the year, scoring 13 points to go along with a career-high 15 rebounds.
The Owls' leading scorer heading into the week, freshman point guard Jasen Williams, stayed in Houston to focus on academics as classes conclude on Friday and finals begin next week.
Rice added two football players to its roster, Pierre Beasley and Chance Talbert. Beasley played 10 minutes, converting a three-point play in the game.
Texas State was led by Bush's 17-point effort. Bush, a high school teammate of Foster at Katy's Mayde Creek High School, also had six rebounds, three assists and four steals.
The Owls shot 51 percent for the game and outrebounded Texas State by 20, 47-27. Rice also scored 21 second-chance points.
Texas State came out like gangbusters in the opening half, knocking down seven of the team's first nine shots from the field in building a 16-6 lead. The Bobcats would stretch the advantage to as many as 14 points on a Brent Holder three-pointer with 9:49 to play in the half.
But the Owls erased the early Texas State advantage. Foster made a pair of free throws at the 6:40 mark and Suleiman Braimoh's layup off the glass would finish off a 12-0 run to cut the Bobcats' lead to two, 31-29 with 6:27 left in the half.
Rice opened the half by making just two of their first six free throws but the Owls finished off the half by making 14 of their final 15 at the line in the period.
At one point the Owls' points came on 10 straight free throws with Britton's two at the line with 1:14 to play giving Rice a 47-39 lead.
Brent Benson would drill a three-pointer at the other end for the Bobcats, but Britton drove inside for a layup with 57 seconds to play in the half, giving the Owls a 49-42 lead at the break.
Rice returns to action Saturday when the Owls play host to Texas in the Toyota Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Texas State travels to Texas A&M Saturday.
